TFA: BioBots
by vp21ct
Summary: Sari Sumdac finds out there is more to her classmates than meets they eye. Takes place after Transwarped, and deviates from the main plot sometime after that I can't put my finger on when . ON HOLD/MAY NEVER FINISH T-T
1. Episode 1: Making Friends

Sari Sumdac stepped out of bumblebee hesitantly. She turned around and grabbed her book bag, then looked over her shoulder at the crowd amassing near the entrance to the high school.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, BB. Maybe we should just call this off. I mean, its not like I can't just be home schooled or anything." She said nervously.

"Nonsense. You'll be fine. Besides, you need to learn how to be a teen-age-er. Your dad sounded pretty serious about that, it must be a big deal for organics." The yellow car-robot assured her.

"Yeah, but, I just got turned into one three weeks ago, all kinds of strange stuff has happened to me, and I still haven't fully gotten control of my transforming," she said with trepidation in her voice, "Besides, I don't even know if they'll like me."

"Whats not to like. Other than the fact that your really a robot in disguise, that its."

Optimus interrupted over Bumblebee's com, "Bumblebee, we need you back to check out a disturbance over by the lake, we think one of the starscreams is trying to get something there."

"On it Optimus," he pulled out and into traffic, leaving Sari standing on the curb.

"Yeah, thanks for the support, BB. Really appreciating it."

With heavy steps, she walked up the stairs and into the large building. She made her way to the office through a veritable human obstacle course.

_How on earth do these people get around here anyway_.

As she stepped into the office, she saw the secretary sitting at her desk typing at the computer. "Hello, my name is Sari Sumdac. I'm a new...."

"Sit" the secretary interrupted.

Sari sat in the row of chairs. She waited for nearly ten minutes before the lady stopped typing and asked, "OK, now, who are you again."

"I'm Sari Sumdac, I'm new here and I wanted to figure out what my classes were."

"Right, give me a moment, here." she printed off a sheet. "This should tell you your classes, and where they are. If you have any further questions, don't bother me."

Sari took the paper and walked out of the room. "Jeez, what a bitch."

She walked the now empty hallway to her classroom. "Room, 189, *sigh* guess this is it."

Opening the door, she heard the teacher cut herself off mid sentence.

"Oh yes, thats right. Class, we have a new student today. Sari Sumdac. Everyone say hello to Sari." the middle aged woman picked up without missing a beat. The class mumbled its hello, then a boy in the third row raised his hand.

"You can't be Sari Sumdac, I've seen her on TV, and she's a lot younger than you are."

_Think fast, Sari_. "Heh, heh. That's my little sister, Sora. People are getting our names mixed up all the time."

The kid sat back in his chair and shrugged. "OK, then."

The teacher cleared her throat. "Alright then Sari, why don't you have a seat between Theodore and Patrick."

She walked to the desk and sat down, sliding her bag under her desk. "hi" she said to the kid next to her, Theodore. His skin was dark, as dark as hers, and his hair was cut close to his head. He wore a red sports coat with the name 'Thruster' on it.

He looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze. "Hi," he responded curtly, then turned his attention back to the front of the room.

"Don't mind Ted, there. He just isn't all that sociable like us normies." said the boy on the opposite side of her. He wore a blue hoodie and wore headphones around his neck. "You'll get used to it after a day or two."

_If you knew anything about me, you wouldn't be calling me a 'normie', bub._

"Anyway," he continued, "names Patrick, as the teacher so kindly stated. Welcome to Detroit High."

******

_Well, I'm not dead, I guess that's something._ Sari thought as she waited on the curb for Bumblebee. _Though I could have died from embarrassment after spilling my lunch on Ted like that._

Between Ted's hard stare and Patrick's just plain staring, she had felt awkward all day. Bad enough she sat next to both of them in EVERY SINGLE CLASS, but neither one seemed to be able to leave her alone. And she was certain that it wasn't because she was pretty or anything. She had met plenty of girls that day who had wanted to make that abundantly clear.

"Come on, BB. You were supposed to be hear 15 minutes ago." As if her words could summon the bot, her com link started to beep.

"Sari, I'm, uh, Sorry that I won't be able to pick you up *BOOM*. I'm *PEW PEW* a little busy with some decepticons right now. You'll have to walk. I'll take you out for Ice cream *BOOM* afterwards alright. Oh he... *BOOM*." the com link shut off there.

"Right, thanks a lot BB. I hope Ratchet has to use parts from a VW Bug to put you back together after this."

She started off in the direction of Sumdac tower, But soon got lost. She had never had to walk anywhere without following explosions and wreckage before. After wandering for an hour, she noticed that she was being followed.

She picked up her pace, then started to run. Getting desperate, she turned into an alleyway.

And ran into a gang of punk teens.

"Well, well, well. What have we here, boys." said one, the leader. Her eyes drifted immediately to his belt, which had a gun tucked into it. "I don't know about you, but this looks like the famous Sari Sumdac." He said as he took a step towards her.

"Look, I don't want any trouble. My dad's a powerful man." She said, trying to make her voice sound threatening, but the words trembled with fear.

"Oh, I'm a powerful man, to, love. I'm a powerful man to." he reached out and held her chin.

"Let GO OF ME." She screamed, shoving him to the ground and trying to run past him. Another one of the Punks grabbed her arm and held on to her.

"Not smart, love. Not smart at all." The leader said as he got back up.

"Do you like the sound of your own voice, or do you just have to repeat everything you say so you can remember what your talking about."

The Punk slapped her across the face. "No one insults Buzzsaw, You hear me, NO ONE."

"Leave the girl alone." someone said behind the Punks.

"Oh, yeah, Who's gonna make me."

"I am," Ted said as he came around the corner, "Now let her go before this gets physical."

"Oh, to late for that, Boys, Kick his ass."

The Punks let go of Sari, and moved in on Ted. One lunged at him with a Knife, but got kicked to the ground in a heartbeat. Another one tried to lunge at him, but he pushed the vagrant into another attacker. In just a few movements, they were all down and moaning on the ground.

"No one makes a fool out o' me EITHER," Buzzsaw said as he reached for his gun.

"LOOK OUT." Sari Shouted.

There was a flash of light, then a gunshot. Sari turned her head away from the scene, trying to will herself to transform. She couldn't, instead she just turned her head back... to see a red, cybertronian robot, just like her but different, standing just where Ted had been. The bullet had ricocheted of of his metal armor, and into the wall.

"Bad Move," the Robot said, "Now I'm gonna have to Kick your skid-plate like this, and my fists are metal this way."

Buzzsaw ran behind Sari and pointed the gun at her head. "Don't move, FREAK, or the princess gets it."

Sari almost panicked, but she knew that if she did, she was dead or worse. _Focus, Sari, focus. Transform. You know you can do it. JUST DO IT._

"TRANSFORM!!!!"

Another flash, another gunshot. Sari's head jerked forward from the impact. After a moment that seemed like an eternity, she reached to the back of her head, and felt only solid metal.

She slowly turned toward the cowering Buzzsaw. Sari put one hand on her hip and waived a finger with the other one.

"Not smart. Y'know, if you don't start running now, your TOTALLY SLAGGED." With that she brought out her laser tonfas. She sliced the ground right in front of Buzzsaw, and he fell to the ground in fear. "What, your audio's not receiving or something, I SAID SCRAM, Buzzbut."

"What the frik is GOING ON IN THIS TOWN," the punk screamed as he ran down the alley way.

"Jeez, I was afraid I was gonna have to put it in binary before you got the point." Sari said.

A flash of light reminded her of the other presence. And she turned around to see normal Ted just standing there in complete awe.

"What? You never seen a teenage robot before." She said, crossing her arms and leaning to the side.

"Only when I look in a SLAGGIN MIRROR. How the hell did you do that. Seriously, what the hell are you." He said, a little bit of panic in his voice.

"Oh, isn't it obvious, I'm the same thing you are. That is of course if you know WHAT you are." She paused as if waiting for him to answer. "And if you don't I guess I'll just have to give you MY story and let you figure it out from there."

******

Three retelling later, Sari was getting annoyed with explaining stuff. It wasn't that Ted was dumb, at least he wasn't as dumb as most guys she'd known. But he certainly had some trouble believing in a liquid metal body, robotic souls called sparks, and he was particularly confused about how she could have gone from a little kid to a robo-teen in 10 seconds flat with just a key.

She had changed back about 3 minutes into the first telling of the story. And at the end of that, Ted had offered to walk her to Sumdac Tower. Now she was explaining to him that she had never been born (for the 4rth time) and had in fact been sort of... discovered.

"But I don't get it," Ted said, "I was born, hell, my mom has baby pictures of me and everything. I even saw my birth video. From what your telling me, I gotta be some kind of robot to begin with."

Sari stopped mid step. "Wait a minute, Precisely when did you start going all robot and stuff."

"Uh, right around the time your dad dissipatedly I would guess. Y'know, when your dad's tower got all messed up and that Megatron dude showed up." He said, puzzled.

Sari reached forward and touched a spot on his chest. "Hey, what are you doing." he said indignantly as his chest opened up to reveal a glowing crystal shard.

"You have an Allspark fragment in you." Sari said, awe in her voice. She reached forward and tried to grab it, but Ted grabbed her hand and shoved her away.

"WHAT THE SLAG DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING. Do you have any IDEA what would have happened if you took that thing out of me. I've tried, it don't work. I nearly died the last time, and the time before that. Its a part of me now." He shut his eyes as his chest closed, sealing the glowing shard within him once again.

"I.....I had no idea. I'm sorry, I was just curious." Sari said apologetically, "It wouldn't be the first time I almost slagged someone I liked." Her gaze fell to the ground and she started to walk on.

"You.... You like me." Ted said opening his eyes.

"Well.....yeah, I mean, aside from you being the ONLY other robo-human in all Detroit, probably the whole planet, you did save my life. How could I NOT like you after that."

Ted scratched the back of his head. "I uh, I guess you have a point there."

The kept on walking, talking as they went. They had just gotten onto the subject of TV shows when they got to Sumdac Tower.

"Well, I uh, I guess this is where I drop you off." Ted said.

"Yeah, about that, listen. Tomorrow, after school, I need to take you somewhere, no excuse for not coming. And I mean it, its important. And not a word of this to anyone at school either. I don't need to tell you how much we'd be the freaks of the year if everyone found out that we were both part robot." Sari said, using the bossy voice she had learned from three two years with the autobots.

"Yeah, my lips are sealed, where do you want me to meet you."

"Why not the alley where you saved me, I got a feeling that if those punks are still there tomorrow, they wont want to stick around after you and me show up again." She said as she walked into the building, leaving there on the side walk.

She rode the elevator up to the penthouse and stepped into her fathers lab, where Professor Sumdac was working on the Space Bridge with Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee.

"Good afternoon, Sari. How was school?" Her father asked as he welded some metal plates in place.

"It was fine, pretty good actually. I made new friends. Really the only thing bad about it was getting left at the curb for twenty minutes." She cast an accusing glare on Bumblebee.

"If its any consolation," the Robot offered, "Ratchet has been spending the whole afternoon putting me back together."

"Oh, its a start." She said as she walked back out the door. She snickered as she heard Ratchet make a comment about BB getting a taste of his own medicine.

"Yep. First day at a new school, get picked on by preps, get into embarrassing situations, almost getting killed by a punk gang, and meeting another teen-robot. Its good that things are finally back to normal."


	2. Episode 2: An Awkward Introduction

Sari walked up to the alleyway slowly. Cautiously, she looked around the corner and saw only Ted standing there. She walked into the alley and greeted him. "You ready?"

"If you are, how long are we gonna be. I'm skipping out on football practice for this, so I figure I have about an hour before the coach calls my folks and I get screwed." He said, stepping away from the wall.

"Well, that all depends on how quickly we get there. We're going to the other side of town, so we'll have to be quick."

"WHAT?! The other side of town, are you kidding, at this hour we couldn't even make it if I drove my car!"

"Who said anything about driving." At that, Sari was immersed in light as a familiar chime signaled her transformation. Her speed blades popped out and she skated around Ted 3 times before he even realized what she was doing. "This is much faster and WAY more slaggin fun."

After a moment she got irritated, "Well, you gonna Transform, or am I gonna have to tow you."

"Oh, right, sure thing. Still not quite used to that."

A flash and chime later, and he stood before Sari in his robot mode. She was impressed. He was taller than her anyways, but he was really skinny, the running back for sure. Now there was more bulk to him, but not a whole lot. More like armor-plating and extra muscle than useless bulk.

His color scheme was something to behold too. Unlike hers, which was pretty solid throughout, his was contained within the lines of his armor, forming sharp edges and contrasts between his bright red and dark black.

His helmet was smooth and red, with a black stripe down the middle. His eyes, strangely, glowed a furious red, like those of a Decepticon. His mask was red on the edges and black in the middle, but seemed to be just one curved piece of metal, not at all like the many plates that protected her face.

"Well, you gonna stare at me all day, or are we gonna get moving." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"OH, right. Just waiting to see if you were ready." Sari said, hoping to the Allspark that she wasn't blushing through her mask. _Come on, Sari. He's just a guy. Slag, he's even a ROBOT guy. You hang out with Robot Guys all the time. How is HE any different._

"Just follow me, OK." Sari said a she sped off into the street. After a second or two she turned stopped and turned around to see if he was following her, but she only traffic.

_Right. Smart Sari. He might never have activated his travel mods before. Good thinking._ "Guess I'll have to go back for him."

"As if."

Sari turned and looked into the air, startled. There was Ted, hovering on jets of red fire from his feet and hands. She couldn't be completely certain, but she thought she saw a smug smile behind that mask. _Oh, really. Well then, if you want to play that game, lets play._

"Good, cause I was just thinking how about how much of a slag heap it would be to have to carry you the whole way there." she said mockingly.

"You think you're faster than me."

"Bot, I don't THINK I'm faster than you. I KNOW I'm faster than you."

"You're setting your self up for some big time disappointment here, Sari. My pals don't call me Thruster for nothing. On the ground or in the air, I'm the fastest thing with legs."

A twinkle caught Sari's eye. "Is that a challenge."

She saw that same twinkle reflected back. "No challenge at all."

_Bumblebee's just gonna LOVE you._

"Then lets do this."

Without any warning, she shot off into the traffic. She cut left and right, through lanes and past cars. She loved the feeling, the way the world blurred around her when she ran this fast. She hadn't done it very often, and she could count on one hand the number of minutes she had ran like this since the incident with the Key. _Gonna need to get a real feel for how fast I can go. I hope Blurr turns up again, I get the feeling that he's gonna be the only real challenge I'll ever get. I can't even go all out now, since I have to lead Ted and all._

As if the mere act of thinking his name had summoned him, he pulled up right alongside Sari with ease, flipping himself over into a lounging position to show his boredom.

"This the best you got?" he said while mock yawning.

"You wish. I was keeping it slow so you wouldn't get lost. Since that doesn't seem to be a problem......"

Suddenly she sped off again, thunder cracking through the city as she broke the sound barrier. That clap was followed by another, and she could almost feel Thruster bearing in right behind her.

She knew that in seconds she would reach their destination. She slammed down her feet and began to brake. Thruster shot past her until he brought his hands up and blasted full power.

As soon as he came to a complete stop, Thruster fell to the ground, landing squarely on his skid plate.

_Oh, smooth. I'm definitely loading this memory onto the Internet._

"What gives, why did you slam on the air brakes like that?" Thruster asked as he walked up, rubbing his aft.

"Because were here." Sari said, gesturing to the old, beaten down machine plant. "Welcome to the glorious Autobot base of operations."

"You have a taste for the dramatic, don't you?"

_Thanks, really needed to have my self esteem crushed today._

They changed back, and walked toward the building. As they stepped in, Sari saw Bumblebee playing on the game system.

"Hey BB, I'm back."

"Hey, Sari." the Autobot said, glancing at her dismissively.

Sari smirked. _Three, two, one._

Bumblebee's head jerked up in realization, then he turned to face her again. "WHO THE SLAG IS THAT."

"Names, Theodore Raymor. But you can call me Thruster." Ted said as he transformed and jetted off the ground and into the air.

Bumblebee stood there in complete shock, totally speechless, as rare a thing as Sari had ever seen. When he did say something, however, it wasn't exactly what Sari had been expecting.

"DECEPTICON!!!!!"

Bumblebee jumped from his seat and brought out his stingers. "EAT STINGER, DECEPTICREEP."

"Wait, WHAT?" Thruster and Sari exclaimed at once.

Bumblebee opened up with combined blast from his stingers. Thruster shot up and dodged the bolt of electricity. He brought his hand up and a jet of fire shot from his palm, striking the Autobot in the chest.

Bumblebee went into the air and fell on the couch. He brought his stingers together and fired again, this time hitting Thruster dead on, sending the Human-Robot careening to the ground.

Both of them got to their feet quickly, and were preparing their next attacks when the earth between them exploded in a mess of debris.

"KNOCK IT OFF BEFORE I KICK BOTH YOUR SKID PLATES!!!!" Sari, now changed to robot mode and wielding her hammer, shouted at the top of her lungs.

"What in the name of Cybertron is going on here? I want an explanation for this." demanded Ratchet as he ran into the room. "Who's putting up alerts for Decepticons."

"There, Right there." Bumblebee yelled, pointing at Thruster. "He tried to slag me."

"I was DEFENDING my self. You shot at me FIRST." Thruster shouted back.

"Alright, KNOCK IT OFF." Ratchet thundered. "This place is trashed enough, and we don't need you making it worse. Either of you." he then noticed the stranger. "Come to think of it, precisely who are you."

"The name is Ted. My friends, who I assumed would include you by extension from Sari, call me Thruster." Thruster replied. He then changed back into human form, "And as you can see, I am clearly NOT a Decepticon."

Ratchet and Bumblebee looked at him in total amazement. Then reached up and palmed his face. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm about to hear a rather large and difficult to answer question?"

"Because I'm going to ask you to find out how this can make me into a robot." Ted Opened up his chest to reveal the Allspark fragment, filling the room with its light.

The two Autobots stared incredulously at it. "There's no way." Ratchet said. But there it was, glowing in all its glory. Finally, Ted's chest closed, and the light returned to normal.

"Come with me." said Ratchet.

******

Ten minutes of scans later, Ratchet stood puzzled over the examining table. "I just don't get it." He said. "I could believe it if the Allspark had power over organics as well as machines, I've seen it with my own optics. But this, this is beyond anything I could ever have imagined."

"I'm certain that we would all have a much better appreciation for that fact if we knew precisely what it was that was so amazing." Bumblebee said sarcastically.

"I couldn't put it in terms that you would understand, but I'll try and simplify it for you." Ratchet stepped over to the computer terminal and brought up a display of Thruster's internal structure. "As you can see, his internal systems are similar to Sari's in this mode. He has different mods and some sub systems are distinctly changed, likely as a result of their differing genders, but they are largely the same. There is one notable exception, his systems are less fluid like this, more Cybertronian, and less organic. He's more like you or me in this mode than he is human."

Then he changed the display to show a diagram of standard human anatomy, and then beside it he brought up a picture of Ted's anatomy. "Things get strange when he transforms. Unlike Sari, his changes are more than skin deep. His machine systems are replaced with organic systems. Some parts are different, his bones are made of Cybertronian steel, and his muscles are supplemented by servos." he zoomed in on Ted's chest region.

"But this is the part that gets me most, his heart is completely destroyed. It doesn't matter if he's in Robot mode or Human mode, his heart is gone. The spark chamber containing the Allspark fragment is all there is. For all intents and purposes of human medicine, he should be dead."

Ted looked at the screen in complete amazement. "What, you mean I'm like some kind of cyber-zombie?" he asked, fear gripping his voice.

"Not really. More like a....... Cyborg, made with Cybertronian parts." Ratchet answered. "I'm not gonna lie, kid. It looks like the Allspark fragment was embedded in your chest to begin with, probably pierced your heart. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why the fragment made you into what you are, to preserve your life. The Allspark does strange things, and works in mysterious ways."

Sari watched the exchange in astonishment. She had been curious, and surely some part of her must have known. But the fact of it was astounding. What Ratchet was saying made sense. He wasn't exactly like her, but he was slagging close.

Suddenly, curiosity gripped her. "Ratchet, you said that my changes are only skin deep when I transform, what do you mean by that?"

The old Autobot turned back to the screen and brought up Thruster's diagram again on the right, and then brought up another one in between that one and Ted's. The one in the middle looked similar to the other two, but also nothing like either. All three had particular parts in particular places, but the one in middle seemed more advanced, more streamlined. More like it had all been assembled at once, and the other two were just the prototypes.

"You, I can't even begin to explain you yet."

The door suddenly opened, and Optimus stepped in. "Ratchet, Bumblebee. I need you to follow me." he demanded. "You two Sari." He started to turn around, then added, "Who is that?"

Ted introduced himself, and told Optimus what he was. The Autobot Prime didn't even flinch at the explanation. "Then I'll have to ask you to come with us as well."

Sari put her hands on her hips. "And where would that be."

"Cybertron. To meet with the Autobot High Council."


	3. Episode 3: The Council Meeting

Sari stood in the ante-room for the Autobot High Council Chambers. It was beyond all words. It made Sumdac tower look like some child's play house. Even for Cybertonian architecture it was massive, more massive than anything she has ever seen in all her life. Omega Supreme could stand in this room with ease.

She knew this as fact, since there was a life sized statue of him standing over the exit. Statues of the great Autobots of the past lined the walls, standing a final guard over the entrance to the seat of Autobot power. At the entrance into the Chamber itself stood the greatest of them all. As big as Omega Supreme, yet somehow even grander in stature, Primus stood guard over the door itself. His face, the very symbol of the Autobots, inspired fear, awe, and pride all at once.

She could barely look beyond that mighty stare. Then her eyes lifted to his hands, and she gasped as the recognized the Allspark, held Above everything.

"This, this is..... I just don't know what to say." Ted said beside her, still entranced by the statue of Omega Supreme.

"That would be a first." Sari shot back, but there was nothing behind the words. He was right, it was beyond words. It reminded her of church, but this was beyond even that. In church, it was a story, and even the parts that people believed with all their heart they thought of as something that was distant from them were it not for their faith.

This place was history. Mt. Rushmore, the Great Wall, the Pyramids, Geronimo, all of that was nothing but a footnote compared to this place. _It makes sense. The Autobots and the Decepticons have been around so long that their last war was fought and ended before man kind even came into being. And both had been at peace for endless ages before that._

The thought of war brought her mind back from the depths of billions of years. She looked toward the massive doors of the Council Chambers. Optimus had gone in to address the Council about the very real and growing threat that the Decepticons presented.

He had been in there for three hours. Suddenly, the doors opened and Optimus strode out. His face showed anger and hurt. _Oh hell, I take it things didn't go well._

Bumblebee noticed his commanders dismay, and asked the question everyone was thinking, "They didn't listen to you, did they?"

"They didn't listen to me?" The Autobot Prime said increadulously, "THEY HARDLY EVEN GAVE ME A CHANCE TO SPEAK. They are DEAD set against the very IDEA that the Decepticons would dare come out now, LET ALONE the notion that Megatron HIMSELF is leading them."

Autobots throughout the Anteroom stared at him. Sari and the rest of the team were stunned. Very seldom did Optimus get angry, and right now he seemed downright furious.

He noticed their shock and sighed. "There's nothing that can be done about it. Alright, Autobots, lets go ho......"

"So, Optimus wasn't exaggerating when he said you were different. And there are two of you." Ultra Magnus stood in the doors. Sari was couldn't believe that the bot was even still standing. Even after weeks of recovery and repair he was still more damaged than she could have thought possible.

Despite it all, he was no less majestic than when she had first seen him. Even using his hammer as a cane, his steps were smooth and confident. She could only imagine the courage and pride it would take to do such a thing.

He strode up to her and knelt before her. She knew it wasn't ceremonial, but somehow she felt as though he wouldn't do this for just anyone. "The Council will see you now."

He looked to the others. "Alone."

She turned and looked at her friends. Ted looked a little uncomfortable, and Bumblebee looked for the world as if he would fight Ultra Magnus himself to stand beside her in there. Even Optimus looked a little taken aback by this. Only Ratchet seemed calm, and he nodded to her confidently.

Sari returned the nod, and Ultra Magnus rose to his feet. She followed him as the walked beneath the massive figure of Primus and through the great doors of the Autobot High Council Chambers.

Ultra Magnus led her to a narrow beam of light in the middle of the room. Save for the light cast in from the room was entirely dark besides. They stopped dead center in the beam and the doors behind them closed.

As soon as they were sealed, beams of light illuminated the seats of the High Council. She noted that one chair was empty.

"Brother and Sister Autobots of the Council. I present to you Sari Sumdac, the one that we have been told about. The one for whom we are now assembled."

The ground she stood upon rose into the air, until she was about shoulder level with Ultra Magnus. She looked around her at the many faces, the many shapes. Somehow, this was more than even the Antechamber. But where that place was grandeur and worship, this place was simple power.

"Well, Small One. Are you in capable of speech?" One of them said.

She started to panic, she had no IDEA what one said to the ruling body of the most powerful beings in the universe. Then calm came over her. For some reason, she knew exactly what to say.

"I am Sari Sumdac." she began. "You see me as an organic. Distant, strange, alien.

"But like you there is more to me than meets the eye. For two years of my life, I have been a friend to the Autobots on my world. I have grown to depend on them, for advice, for protection, for companionship. And I they have come to depend on me as well, as a friend.

"It is my hope that you, too, may come to depend on me. Maybe not as a friend, but perhaps as a bridge between our two worlds."

She touched the jewel on her chest, and revealed her cybertronian Spark to them, bathing the room in its blue glow. "I am Sari Sumdac, Daughter of Earth, Daughter of Cybertron."

******

_**Optimus stepped into the empty Council chamber slowly. He walked along the path of light from the door and stopped just inside the circle at the center of the room.**_

Ultra Magnus stood in the middle of that circle, and he waited for the doors to close before he turned to face Optimus Prime.

"You wanted to see me, Ultra Magnus."

"Yes, Prime. Our attempt to reason with the council has failed." The great Autobot leader turned and hung his head. "I have failed."

"Sir, just because the council...."

"The Elite Guard is strained to the breaking point. Our forces are stretched so thin that the Space Bridge Nexus is being guarded by raw recruits and their instructors. We have had to abandon many worlds, and have bee forced to destroy dozens of Space Bridges, just so we can consolidate our defenses enough to defend what we haven't left for the Decepticons."

He turned again to Optimus and looked at the Autobot with eyes filled with pain. "We have been back on our heels since the Decepticons returned. Not one action did we plan, not one move was ours to make. All we have been doing is reacting.

"And now you come to me with news that Omega Supreme, our last, best hope for victory, is currently in the hands of the rouge Starscream."

He collected himself, then continued. "And the council has refused to declare a state of war."

"If you don't mind me saying sir," Optimus interrupted, "Perhaps we should tell the council Omega's whereabouts. They may agree to mobalize if they know that at any moment, starscream could come here and attack us."

The older Autobot simply shook his head. "No, that would only cause a panic. We must find our salvation elsewhere."

"I don't understand, sir."

Magnus turned to face the Prime once more. "I have personally selected a unit to go to earth and establish a base there. They will build a fortress, the likes of which the universe has never seen before. It has been devised by our greatest engineers.

"Perceptor, Wheeljack, and a teem of highly skilled engineers will acompany you back to earth. After that, we will send three ships. Nova Prime will arrive first. Some time after that, Rodimus Prime will arrive. Finally Sentinel Prime will go directly for earth if the Decepticons attack Cybertron."

Ultra Magnus' face became dark, and sadness, pain, anger, and pity all filled his voice at once. "If Cybertron falls, that will be our new home.  
_**  
"If I am destroyed, YOU must lead our people out of these dark times." **_


	4. Episode 4: How many of them are there?

A week had gone by since the council meeting. Things had gone well, considering. Sari and Ted were now honorary Autobots and members of the Elite Guard, as were the rest of the team, who were now working on the new Autobot City.

That is where She was now. The place was still under construction, likely would be for several months. With only twenty bots to work on it, it was a wonder how much they had finished even now. The preliminary defenses were already in place, and so was the command center. The gray of the skeletons of massive buildings contrasted sharply with the golden yellow of those buildings that were already done.

It reminded her of Cybertron, naturally. But there was something about it that was more...... Cozy. _Its the sky,_ she thought _Cybertron doesn't have a blue sky, its just space and stars._

She turned as she heard the familiar whine of Thruster's engines approaching. He came down slowly beside her and transformed. He looked up at the structures around them. "Nice place, sort of like Cybertron on earth, huh?"

"I think that's the point, Ted."

He smirked at her. They started walking into the massive building that was the Control center. There, Kup, Springer, Arcee, and Ratchet were putting in some of the sensors equipment.

"Hi Sari, Ted." Arcee greeted them.

Sari waved back, "Hi."

She saw Ratchet grimace, and she looked at him curiously. _Whats the matter with him?_

Kup set down the computer console he was working on and waved to them as well. "Hey there..... uh.... Whats the human affectionate for Protoform, again?"

"Sprouts." Sari said chuckling.

"Yeah. You two think you could give an old bot a hand. These servos aren't what they used to be, y'know."

"Sure." Sari and Ted answered.

An hour later, they sat in the observation dome and watched the sun go down. "I don't know about you, but I'm so sore it feels like my servos are fused." Ted groaned.

Sari laughed, "You've been hanging out with us too much. You're starting to talk like an Autobot."

"Well, we are Autobots."

******

The night was dark as they walked together towards Sumdac Tower. They had had a hard days work, and both were ready for sleep. Sari looked up at the stars and thought wistfully of her bed.

Then she saw something moving incredibly fast against the night sky. She squinted, trying to see it better. As she started to make out its shape, another object shot out from the first one.

Realization hit her like a hammer. "TRANSFORM, NOW!!!!!!!"

She pushed Ted out of the way and dodged to the other side while the armor began to cover her body. She saw the missile streak across the cityscape and hit the ground right next to her.

She was sent flying into the air by the explosion. She landed hard and the wind was knocked out of her. As she tried to get up, a red hot spike of pain shot up her leg. "OH GOD." Clutched at the wounded leg. The damage was severe, very bad. Her armor was torn and part of her endoskeleton was showing through the breach.

Thruster shot across her view and into the air, then flashed by the other way and slammed into a building. "Sari to Autobot C&C, We have a decepticon situation here. We are under attack. I'm hurt bad." she shouted into her com.

"Affirmative, Sari. We are detecting tree Decepticon signals. One is in your area, the other two are headed for us. Try to hide somewhere or lead that one here. We have to defend the city." Prime's voice answered her.

Two red beams cut across the sky and Thruster came into her view again. He dodged two more shots from the Decepticon, then returned fire. Then the female Starscream clone came into view.

"Organic scum. I'll crush you were you are." The clone swung at Thruster, who dodged at the last minute, rocketing up into the air to punch the Decepticon in the face.

Sari watched the two fight until they were out of her view, then dragged herself over to a nearby alley way. _I can't even transform like this. This is very bad._

She leaned against the wall. She could hear another explosion in the distance, followed by a shout of triumph from the Starscream Clone. That shout quickly turned into a scream.

_Take that, Decepti-Bitch._ Sari thought, imagining what damage Thruster might have done to the Decepticon.

She struggled onto her feat, leaning heavily against the wall. She took a few steps forward before her leg gave out in another spike of pain.

"Slag this leg."

"You alright?" Someone yelled further down in the alley. A boy, a little younger than her from the looks of him, ran into view. "Oh my god. Let me help you, I think I can fix the damage." He knelt down beside her.

"NO, you need to get to safety. This is no place for a......"

Suddenly, she heard a familiar chiming sound, and the boy transformed in front of her. Green plates covered his body. Thick, dark green gauntlets slid onto his forearms. Finally, a mask like that of a welder came down over his face.

"Human." Sari looked at him in astonishment as his right arm opened up into a dozen manipulators and tools, which immediately set about to repairing her damaged leg. The wound tingled as severed circuits were reconnected and broken bone was re knit.

The mystery bot stepped back a little bit and held his left hand out to the street. That arm, too, opened up, and a grapple shot out to grab a piece of metal and real it back.

"I've repaired the internal damage," he said as lasers cut the metal piece into a rectangle, "But all I can do for the breach is put a patch on it."

"Can I still fight?" Sari asked as the manipulators curled the metal over the wound.

He welded the patch in place and answered. "Yes, If your careful." He grabbed Sari's hand and pulled her up onto her feat.

"Then I'll be careful."

Sari walked out into the street. As she looked down it, she could see laser beams shooting up into the sky where the Female Starscream was still fighting Thruster. _Good thing he's tough, or he'd of been slag by now._ she thought.

"Wait one second before you go," said the green bot beside her. She turned to see him grappling up random bits of machinery. As they came to him, he added them to something that he was making. She watched mesmerized as, in seconds, the bot made a kind of rocket board shaped like a wing.

He dropped it on the ground and stepped on. It hissed to life and the engines lifted him into the air. "Now we can go."

Sari brought out her speed blades. "Before we go, who are you?"

"Gearbox."

They shot off in the direction of the battle. As they approached, Sari could see that Thruster was in trouble. He'd been thrown into the ground, and the Starscream clone had her weapons on the prone human/robot.

Sari kicked up the speed on her blades, then used her jump-jets to shoot into the air. She brought out her hammer and smashed it into the back of the Decepticon.

The Starscream went stumbling over Thruster and into a building, but she was still standing. Then Gearbox swooped down low near her legs and fired his grappler. They wound around one of the clones limbs, and were pulled taught. She fell to the ground screaming.

"Who is that?" Thruster asked as he got back up.

"Shoot now, questions later." Sari yelled back, firing a bolt.

They pounded on the robot for a whole minute before she panicked and shot into the air. As some point, Gearbox had assembled a laser pistol while in flight.

_He is good_ Sari thought looking at the green bot as they met on the ground again.

Thruster caught his breath, then gestured towards Gearbox. "OK, now who is this again?"

"Gary Balic, aka Gearbox, at your service." he replied.

Before Gearbox could react, Sari touched his chest plate, and it opened. "Hey, Wha....." His protests died as his chest opened up to reveal an Allspark fragment. "Never noticed that before."

Sari was stunned. She knew that it _could_ happen, now, but that it had happened more than once. _I'm beginning to wonder if this is the reason why we couldn't find all the Allspark fragments before. If they've been hiding like this, then there could be hundreds out there, all like this._

Gearbox looked to Thruster and asked, "Does she do this to all the guys she meets?"

"Only the special ones." The red bot answered.

Sari's com link chirped, "Sari, the situation is under control her now, sending you backup."

"Negative, Big Bot. We took care of the problem, with a little help from yet another human-bot." Sari responded.

"What. How is that even......It doesn't matter, bring them to Autobot City immediately. Optimus out."

"Well you heard him, boys. Lets go."

"Oh, of coarse, our illustrious team leader." Thruster said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha, slaggin, ha. Now come on." Sari retorted.

"He has a point, we do make a good team, and I get the would indeed like to join." Gearbox said.

"Join what? The Autobots, its not even up to Optimus, only the council can let in someone who wasn't protoformed an Autobot. Its a big deal."

"We are more than Autobots, though. We are something else, our own little group." Thruster said. "We could even have our own team name."

"And what would we call our little 'team'." Sari asked, annoyed.

"Why not the Bio-Bots."


	5. Episode 5: Confusing Loyalties

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

**As you may have noticed, it has been some time since I updated this story. There is good reason for this.**

**I greatly enjoyed the series finale "End Game" and have been wondering how to incorporate it into my fan fiction. The truth is, I didn't expect it to go the direction it did, and End Game completely put my ideas in the garbage bin. Not being one to go against canon, I decided to retcon what I could.**

**Then I faced the delima of writing it all out. Ofcoarse, I'm lazy, so this doesn't exactly apeal to me.**

**So instead of taking the 2-3 chapters it would take for me to go through my telling of the events of "End Game" in full, I'll just sumarize what happens with my little differences thrown in.**

**Since Ultra Magnus is still online in my version, Sentinel never took command outright. However he still gains control of much of the autobot command structure, hiding Ultra away from his machinations, but is only somewhat aware of the plans that Ultra Magnus has incase of a decepticon attack, only knowing that he has orders to go to earth should defeat seem inevitable.**

**When Ratchet and Fanzone arrive, it goes pretty much the way it did in the show, with the exception that Ultra Magnus isn't in a coma, but confined to his room. Since Arcee is on earth instead of in a coma, Ratchet and Fanzone find out that Arcee still has the activation codes, a fact which Shockwave soon becomes aware of. Ratchet gets the hammer, and is pursued by Jazz, who of coarse stays on earth.**

**Soon after that, Arcee is bot-naped by Shockwave, and they trace her to the moon. After that, the events follow pretty much how it goes in the show (with some added characters, and really small, specific instances wich will be expanded upon in this chapter). Prowl dies, Starscream dies, the Allspark gets partially reassembled, and its a bittersweet ending.**

**Now, back to our regular program.**

**This chapter takes place pretty much immediately after the main fight in the Finale, but before the glorious return to Cybertron.**

Sari watched with sadness as Optimus Prime buried their long time friend in the forest just outside of autobot City. Everybody said a few words of respect, but it all seemed numb and void, all the life taken out of it. Even Bumble Bee and Thruster didn't have much to say, and were much more solemn than their usual snarky selves.

After the ceremony, Sari stood around as everyone departed to their homes. Some one walked up behind her, and when she turned, she saw it was Optimus. The bot looked strange with his new flight mods, but his strong and stern expression was a symbol she latched onto.

"You know, it was strange, burying him the way you organics bury your dead." The autobot Prime said, flatly, "But I think he would have liked it. He always enjoyed it here, and I think he would have wanted his death to be treated with the traditions of this planet."

"Yeah," Sari responded. She looked down and rubbed her arm, "he would have."

"There's still a lot we need to do," Optimus said to her, "Tomarrow, I'd like you and the other Bio-Bots to come with me to the moon and finish taking care of that decepticon wreck. There's still those Starscream clones that we should take care off, and the resources there might allow us to add some additional improvements to the City."

Sari nodded, but it was shallow. _That's all we can do, isn't it. Bury our dead and get back to work._

Sari stood inside what the autobots had dubbed 'The Hall of Shame'. It was the room full of Starscream clones, and it creeped her the hell out. The lines of sparkless husks, all looking exactly like Starscream, with slight variation. Her job was to check each of them and make absolutely sure that they all were devoid of any spark, or if any of them had a fragment of the all spark. And she was completely alone in the room.

The rest of the team, Thruster and Gearbox, were busy disassembling the rest of the decepticon ship, as were Optimus, Kup, Bumblebee, and Ratchet. But she was all alone in there as she walked up and down the lines, checking the sparkchamber of each and everyone of the clones.

As she reached the end of one line, she came up the clone there and paused for a moment. She was amazed by how much the change in color scheme changed the look of it. Most of them were a dull red, or orange, or purple, but this one had a primarily white color, with details in a bright, emergency red. There were other odd details that seemed a bit off, the chin wasn't as pronounced, but the face seemed a bit stronger. The cannons were shorter, and a bit broader. All around the body was generally thicker.

She hopped up to the chest area of the sparkless-bot, and opened up the spark-chamber. Like the others, it was empty. _Did none of these protoforms get to have any kind of life, _she thought, _ or were they all dead to begin with._ She thought on it for a while, and decided that she would rather they had been dead to begin with, than the alternative that even Starscream had been evil enough to melt down protoforms for his army.

She reached out and touched the empty chamber in silent respect for all the protoforms that had been used. Before she could remove it, thought, her hand transformed, and _her_ spark chamber began to glow. Soon the room was full of blue light, and it grew until it was blinding.

Suddenly, power surged through her arm, and she was thrown back and into the wall.

Sari raised her head with a grunt, and opened her eyes.

And then the Starscream clone opened _its_ eyes.

Sari quickly glanced down at its spark chamber, and sure enough, there was a brand new spark. She had brought it to life.

"Oh slag."

The clone jumped into a combat position, pointing its canons at her. They began to glow as power charged. "Who are you, are you an autobot, or a decepticon." it demanded with a voice identical to Starscream's.

Sari's hands opened up, and she brought them up infront of her. "Here's a hint." She shouted, blasting at the awakened clone.

It dodged out of the way, and started blasting at her. As she moved to avoid them, the shots tore through the many Starscream clones, leaving bits and pieces of bot scattered around. _This bots gonna take this whole place down_. Deciding that she needed to end this quickly, Sari shot out quikcly from behind cover, and brought her hammer out and smashing into the Starscream.

It flew through the air and into another group of clones. It saw her hammer, and instead of facing her, it shot the ceiling and flew out. "Coward! Comeback here and fight me." she shouted. Then over the comm, "Thruster, Starscream clone headed your way."

"I'm on it." came his reply as she shot into the air after the clone. As she climbed up in the lunar sky, she could see Thruster shooting up ahead.

"A fellow decepticon? Assist me, my kinsman, in desposing of this vile autobot." She heard the Starscream say to Thruster, just before he unleashed a blast at it. "What, Traitor." It said in response, returning fire and striking Thruster from the sky.

Sari caught him as he fell, and laughed at him. "Why does everybot we meet automatically assume I'm a decepticon." Thruster said forlornly.

"There something your not telling us," Sari answered jokingly. The both continued their pursuit of the clone.

Suddenly, it doubled back and shot into the wreckage again. They landed, and started in. When they came to a fork in the corridor, Sari pointed to the right one "You take that way, I'll take the other, call in immediately when you find him."

They split up, and Sari brought out one of her orbs to illuminate the way.

Sari continued on for a few moments. Suddenly, a giant hand reached out and grabbed her, one of the finger covering her faceplate.

"I'd rather not hurt you, small autobot, but if you struggle, your chances of injury will be much higher." The decepticon said.

_That doesn't sound like Starscream_, thought Sari.

"I'm going to let you talk, now. I have some questions I need answered before I let you go."

_That _really _doesn't sound like Starscream._

The clone uncovered her face plate. "Who are you?" he asked her.

Sari thought for a moment. If she called for help, he'd probably hurt her. But if she stalled him, the others could find her and rescue her. She decided to answer his questions. "I'm Sari Sumdac."

"That doesn't sound like a very autobot-y name." The Starscream replied.

"If you haven't noticed by my size, yet, I'm not a normal autobot."

"Actually I did notice. What are you?"

"I'm a human-autobot Techno-Organic. I posses properties of both Cybertronian technology and human organics."

The Starscream frowned, and Sari wondered if it had been a bad idea to tell him that she was an organic. Now that she remembered, decepticons hated organics. "What a horrible abomination," it said, and Sari prepared for it to crush her.

"The autobots are spreading their tyranny and filth to you defenseless humans, as well. I knew they were evil, but this is a new level of low."

Sari was suddenly very surprised and _very_ confused. Everything this decepticon had said put him completely out of the norm for how decepticons were supposed to act. In fact, now that she noticed it, his demeanor wasn't like that of a decepticon at all. He didn't carry himself the way a decepticon did, and he seemed more like an autobot.

"You're new to this whole 'evil' thing, aren't you." Sari said to him, hoping to learn more from this uncharacteristic clone.

"What, are you suggesting that the decepticons are evil. You must be confused, it is the autobots who are evil. They suppress the decepticons and any who would support them. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, they are conniving back-stabbers, and it would be just like them to spread lies about us decepticons." He stopped for a moment, then looked at her sternly. "But you are not the one asking the questions here, little autobot. I am." He leaned back, "Now, you have something to do with my activation, what is it?"

Sari thought for a moment again. _Better to tell the truth_, she thought, _its unbeleivable anyway, and it'll take longer to explain than a lie. _"I gave you a spark." she said flatly.

The clone looked taken aback. "Impossible, only depths of Cybertron and the power of the allspark can do such a thing. That is why the autobots stole our homeland from us, and hid our holy artifact, to prevent us from continuing our speices. You could not have given me life." He said, leaning in again.

_Is all of that true, is that really why the decepticons hate the autobots,_ then,_ get a grip, Sari. This is Starscream he'd lie just to keep in practice, even if it is a clone._ "Well thats the thing, _I_ posses the power of the allspark," she said, actually getting into the larger bots face, "It gave it to me."

" A deception, it must be." The clone replied. Then it looked at her hard. "But, if this is true..."

_Oh oh,_ thought Sari, _maybe telling the truth wasn't such a good idea after all._

"Then you are too valuable to let stay in autobot hands. I didn't want to do this, but I will have to take you with me," he reached for some scrap metal, and tore it into bands. As he bound her with it, he said, "If you do not struggle, you will not be harmed. I give you my word."

_Something is definitely wrong with this Starscream. Even the cronic lier clone wouldn't tell so blatant lie. _"Wait," she said aloud, "My superiors wouldn't let you out of here alive, even if you had me. But I might be able to negotiate with them to let you go, or, more likely, let you off easy." she said, hoping he wouldn't call her bluff.

The clone thought for a moment, then hung his head in defeat and nodded solemnly. "You are right, of coarse. There can be no victory, this far behind enemy lines, and I would serve my people far better alive than dead. So be it, I will agree to this, even if I must trust in the word of a treacherous autobot." He released her, and Sari breathed a sigh of relief.

They walked toward out to the exit from the ruins, and Sari saw Optimus and the others. When they saw them, they started to move forward. Sari held up her hands, "It's ok, he's surrendered."

But Optimus just ran past her and struck the clone with the Magnus Hammer, sending it to the ground. Then Bumblebee jumped on top of him and forced a pair of stasis-cuffs on him.

"Hold on, wait, wait. He's surrendered, he's of no danger to us. Stop!" she screamed, as they tore off his weapons and flight mods.

Ratchet came forward and lifted the beaten decepticon into the air. Sari ran right up to Optimus as the other autobots carried the clone away. "Just what are you trying to pull, he _surrendered_. I can understand being cautious, but aren't you supposed to treat your prisoners with a little _respect_. Isn't that what makes us the _good_ guys." she screamed at the Prime.

"Sari, he's a decepticon, and a Starscream clone no less. Treachery is built into his programing." The autobot prime walked off to the ship, leaving Sari standing there.

"Funny," she said to herself, "he said the same thing about you."


	6. Episode 6: Behold, Galvatron Pt 1

Megatron stood in his cell, of what was now the autobot flagship Omega Supreme. His plan had been perfect. All the events that had happened had been planed by him. But one thing had foiled it all, one bot was responsible for his embarrassing defeat and imprisonment.

Optimus Prime.

The decepticon leader stood there passively, there was nothing he could do about it, with the stasis cuffs on, but he would have rather been doing everything he could to beat his way out, even in his weakened condition. So instead, he closed his eyes, and began to think.

"Megatron." someone said quietly after a short while. The decepticon leader refused to open his eyes.

"Megatron," the voice said again, hollow and empty.

"Megatron, open you eyes." This time, Megatron recognized the voice and opened his eyes.

"Starscream." He said.

And sure enough, there stood the bot... But something was off. _Yes_, thought the decepticon, _something is off. Or rather missing._

"I must ask, have you lost weight, Starscream." Megatron said mockingly.

Starscream looked down at, and through, himself, and then looked back up at Megatron with scowl. He put it away, however, and merely responded, "Why yes as a matter of fact, I'm on a new 'low-energon' diet. Its very slimming."

Megatron frowned at the ineffectiveness of his jibe, and cut straight to the point. "I won't ask you how you are here, that is irrelevant. The question is, why are you here?"

By now, Shockwave had awakened from sleep mode, and stared curiosly at his leader. "My lord, who are you speaking to?"

The apparition stepped through the cells forcefield and stood before Megatron, "Ah, but the questions are so very intertwined. They are not mutually exclusive to one another." The decepticon ghost started circling his leader. "After my death, I discovered a way to the afterlife. Didn't really have a choice about it, my consciousness was having to catch up with my spark. But apearently, you hadn't done a very good job of killing me the first time." He smiled. "Someone had taken my spark before you could destroy it. To make a long story short, they offered me a deal. A deal that I would now like to extend to you." He paused to let Megatron speak.

"I'm listening." The decepticon leader said.

"You give the services of the decepticons to whatever task my employer desires, and in return he will grant you power beyond your imagination, and give me a new body. Personally, I would have left you out of the picture if I could have, but I need the loyalty of the decepticons for this deal to work." He held out his hand and disabled Megatron's stasis cuffs, then held it out again.

Megatron looked at the hand, and thought for a moment. _He has some kind of angle, he always does._ Then he smiled, _ But I can always figure it out latter._

He reached out, and shook the spirits hand.

Energy rushed through him, flooding his circuitry and shorting our whole sections. It was power he had felt only once before, when he had had possession of the Key and the All-Spark. But this time something was different. Its will was not passive, as the Key had been, nor did it resist him the way the All-Spark had. No, this power was malicious, dangerous, _delicious_.

He let it guide him as it spread through the room. He felt a familiar sensation as it devoured the walls and floor and ceiling to add to his form, repairing and modifying him. But that was not enough, not enough power. "I need _more._" he shouted, and he stretched his hands toward his servants, Shockwave and Lugnut.

The power spread to them, and they screamed as it tore them apart to add to his frame. He grew nearly half again his size. His hands became larger, and his fingers came to end in claws. His coloration changed to match that of those whose bodies he had cannibalized for his gruesome upgrade. As the final touch, a massive cannon formed from the parts of a nearby bulkhead, and a sword formed from the remains of his once loyal subject, Shockwave. He placed each in its proper space, and turned to the now sparkless shells of Shockwave and Lugnut.

"I apologize for my rudeness, but you had something I needed. Rest assured, your sacrifice will not be in vain." He said, and laughed. His voice was deeper now, darker. Gone was his cool demeanor. He was drunk with power, and he knew it. And he _enjoyed_ it.

Suddenly, the door opened, and that little, yellow, annoying autobot ran in. Bumble-something-or-other. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the transformed decepticon, however. "Megatron?" he said feebly.

The bot that had been known as Megatron turned around. He thought for a moment on his name. It was not him, anymore. It did not possess the power, or the strength that he now felt. "No," he said at last, "_Galvatron_."

The little yellow bot just stood there, shaking all over. His face was a mask of total and complete fear. It was as if his circuits had completely shorted from the utter terror he faced.

"What, no _buzzing_ comeback, no _stinging_ insult?" the Decepticon mocked. He held out his cannon arm.

"I'm disappointed."


	7. Episode 7: Behold, Galvatron Pt 2

Sari was thrown from her bunk as an explosion rocked the ship. She got up and transformed immediately, both for decencies sake and the fact that atmospheric loss would be deadly to her in human mode. She ran into the next room where Thruster and Gearbox slept, and found them in a similar situation to her.

"Any idea what that was?" she asked the two bots.

"None at all." Gearbox responded.

Suddenly, their comms activated and Ratchet spoke, "There's been an explosion in cell block A. Sensors are scrambled all over the place, but I think I can detect 1, maybe 2 sparks leaving that area and headed to the air lock."

Optimus soon responded, "Understood. Alright people, we have a jail break here. Sari, take the bio-bots and guard our newest guest from escape. I'll try and head off Megatron. Ratchet who was in that area."

The old autobot was silent for a moment, and when he spoke, it was with great dismay. "Bumblebee."

Instantly, Sari called out. "Prime, I'm going with you. It might take both of us to..."

"Sari, NO. I gave you an order, and as a member of the elite guard, you have to follow it. Protect the cell block and make sure that noone else escapes. I can handle Megatron as he is now, I don't need your help."

"But-"

Ratchet interjected before a fight could break out. "He's right, kid. You're the strongest member of your team, and if Megatron doubles back to save his friend, he'll be reaching you guys before Optimus reaches him."

Sari sighed. "All right." she said as she took her team and went.

They twisted through the corridors until they reached the second cell block. There was only one prisoner, the Starscream clone they had found, wich she had nicknamed Skyfire. When they entered he was wide awake.

"Ah HA, no matter how great your defences may be, my comrads have been valiant enough to escape from them. But do not expect them to come back for me, I already told them to leave me and save themselves."

Thruster walked up to the cell's force field and kicked it. "Shut up in there, retardecon. We're here just in case your friends decide to be 'valiant' enough to come and rescue your sorry skidplate."

Sari grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. "Leave him alone, he's already our prisoner, we don't need to torment him any more. If he annoys you, just turn off you audios."

The red bot turned to face her, "What is with you. You've been defending this 'con ever since we caught him. Are you forgetting the fact that his creator almost slagged our entire city, and that he almost slagged you the first time he saw ya."

"I'm just saying, we shouldn't treat him so badly. I mean, _we're _the good guys." She said back.

"And he's one of the bad guys, so its fair."

"Thats not how it works, and you know it." She snapped back at him.

"Well what are you gonna do about it." Thruster snapped back.

_I'll kick your skid plate, for one thing. _She thought. _Then, who knows, I might just let him go free, since you guys have all been treating him like slag._ Suddenly, her mind latched itself onto that idea. _Yeah, I just _might_ set him free_.

Suddenly, Sari shot out her hand and jabbed Thruster in the shoulder, cutting off the flow of energon to his arm like Prowl had shown her. Thruster shouted his defiance as his arm went limp, then kicked Sari aside and rocketed himself away from her. Sari instantly went into a combat stance when he touched down.

"Sari, I don't think you want to do this." Thruster said, but Sari didn't respond. "But if you insist." he entered a fighting position himself, while his right arm hang limply at his side.

Meanwhile, Gearbox simply stared at both of them with mild fear on his face, not understanding what was happening or why.

Like a rocket, Thruster shot into the air and dived at Sari. He shot a blast at her, but she dived out of the way. Thruster changed his course just enough to hit her, redying a punch.

Which Sari blocked away easily, turning the bot in the air helplessly, landing several more debilitating blows, before finally letting his momentum carry him crashing into the floor and dragging him for several feet to a painful stop at the wall.

Sari then turned to glare at Gearbox, who pointed at the door out. "Y'know, maybe Ratchet needs some protection on the bridge, why don't I go check on him, huh." and with that, the green bot was out the door.

Sari turned to the wall console then and turned off the force field. "Come on, it won't be long before Gearbox gets there and Ratchet sends someone else here to stop me," Sari said as she ran up to Skyfire.

"That was an incredable display of chivalry and valor, and I am in your debt, milady." The decepticon said as Sari deactivated his stasis cuffs. When they were off, his hand shot out and he grabbed hold of her. "But I fear what the autobots would do to you should they find that you have seen through their lies. And I still cannot leave one as powerful as yourself in their hands." With that, he lifted her into the air and began walking to the door.

While she struggled against his grip, Sari thought with despair, _What have I gotten myself into._

*******

Optimus walked up to the turn in the corridor quietly. "He's right arround there, he's trying to break the codes too the airlock, but I'm doing my best to stop him." Ratchet said quietly over the comm.

"Got it." Was the prime's only reply. He ran around the corner and brought the Magnus Hammer to bear. "Stop where you are Megat-woa."

The Megatron he saw standing before him was not the Megatron he had defeated an captured days before. He was nearly half again his previous size. His coloration had changed to a dark and menacing purple, the way it had been during their first encounter. His hands ended in claws that looked like they could tear through cybertronian-steel. Where his helmet had been unadorned before, three spikes rose from the front like a crown, with the largest one in the center. Finally, his cannon was smoother, golden, and larger.

"The name is Galvatron now, Optimus Prime." even the voice was more menacing than before. It was deeper, and the words had oozed out in a way that was completely different than the cool demeanor of the decepticon leader before.

"Now, if you would be so kind as to open this airlock," Megatron/Galvatron said as he turned to face Optimus, revealing...

"BUMBLEBEE." Optimus cried in shock. The little gold bot was torn up bad. His entire right side looked as if it had been shot at point blank range, and he wasn't moving. The only thing to indicate any life left in the bot was the fact that he hadn't changed gray yet. Optimus took a step forward.

"Ah, ah ah. Not a step closer" Galvatron said, bringing one of his hands up in front of him, "We wouldn't want our little friends spark to be extinguished prematurely, now would we." and a Sword shot out of Galvatrons arm and the blade stopped just short of Bumblebee's back.

Optimus stopped in his tracks and glared at the decepticon.

"Thats more like it, good." Galvatron cooed. "Now, open this airlock."

Optimus just stood there defiantly.

"Hurry, I think his vitals are fading fast," Galvatron said as he pushed the sword forward just enough to begin to scrape metal.

"Ratchet, Open the airlock." Optimus said aloud and over the comm.

"Anything special you want me to do when it opens, prime." Ratchet replied.

"Just...Open the airlock."

The door slid open, and the atmosphere rushed out. "Thank you." The decepticon said. Then he smirked as he took a step back and put away the sword. "Now......Catch" And he threw Bumblebee out the airlock before shooting out himself.

"BUMBLEBEE!!!" Optimus raced out of the door and jumped after the unconscious bot. They fell from the ship with growing speed as space tumbled about them. After what seemed like minutes, he reached the golden autobot and wrapped one arm around him, turning to face the shrinking ship and shooting off a grapple.

"Come on, come on." The Prime pleaded as the graple lanced out toward the ship. It connected solidly and held on. "YES!!!."

Suddenly, a large purple space ship with a large cannon on the nose shot by, cutting the line with its blade like wing. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Optimus cried as the ship transformed into Galvatron, who laughed maniacly as he fired at the autobot ship. The cannons gave of a _Thwoomp Thwoomp_ sound as bolts of searing energy tore out and ripped two massive wholes in the living ship. Then he transformed again and fired off a massive volley of missiles at the ship, wracking it with explosions.

Optimus gave a small cheer when Omega Supreme's massive cannon swung arround to fire at the seemingly unstopable decepticon. But Galvatron merely dodged the blast and swooped in, transforming again quickly to slice the barrel of the cannon clean off, change back, and shoot off into the black of space, his sickeningly evil laugh echoing over the radio spectrum.

"Hold on, Optimus." Ratchet called over the com. "I'm getting a shuttle out to you now, it should be there short-"

Just then, the Starscream clone shot out of the stricken Omega Supreme, and transformed, blasting off in the direction of Galvatron.

"He escaped!!" Optimus shouted. "Sari, what the hell is going on in there." the autobot leader demanded.

Thruster, instead, answered him, "He's taken her. She let him out and he took her. God damn. Optimus, she fucking stabbed me in the back. She's a traitor."

The Prime's face went blank for a moment as the information sunk in. Then it went hard as determination set in. The shuttle arrived shortly, and a little after, he was back on Omega Supreme.

"Omega, can you pursue them." He asked the massive war machine.

"Negative." the huge autobot answered, "I'm severely damaged. I need to set down somewhere. Changing course back to earth."

"PRIMUS DAMNIT." Optimus screamed, slamming a console with his fist. He turned to Thruster, "Go Down to cell block A and make _certain_ that no more of the prisoners escape."

"That won't be necessary." Ratchet said, returning from the infirmary.

"WHAT!!" Optimus shouted.

"It seems that our new friend, _Galvatron_, scrapped them and used them as _parts_ for his new upgrades."

Optimus was shocked. Everyone in the room was shocked. No one could say a word. They had all known that Megatron was evil. But this... transformation, had rendered him something more so.

"Damn," Jazz said, "I knew he was bad news, but to kill his own men."

"Autobots," Optimus said after a long silence, "lets go home and lick our wounds."

*******

Sari stood in the decepticon base that Skyfire had followed Megatron to. _Galvatron, its Glavatron now. Have to remember that._ She stood beside Skyfire before the entrance to a large cargo area that had been converted into a throne room upon Galvatron's arival. She breathed in nervously as she waited for the decepticon leader to call them in.

She had decided to go along with Skyfire's idea after he had explained to her _why_ the decepticons were as ruthless as they were,_ why_ they hated the autobots so much, and _how_ the great war had began so long ago.

"_The Autobots and the Decepticons had been friends, great allies, living and working together in harmony,"_ He had told her. _"We Decepticons worked as explorers, warriors, and keepers of the peace, while the Autobots were administrators, scholars, and laborers. We all did our jobs and we all were happy." _ Then his face had darkened, _"But the Autobots soon came to fear our warrior's nature, and our great skill in combat. They came to believe that we were too powerful, that we were too aggressive. So they struck, killing the old models and proto-forms alike. We never did have the Autobots' numbers, but they killed so many of us in the first strike that we were left with no choice. We had to be ruthless. We had to fight like feral organics, no offense, so that we could live."_

Sari didn't know how much of what he had said was truth, but something powerful told her to trust this decepticon, and so she had. Now she was walking up to the throne of her once greatest fear and enemy, transformed and reborn into an even more fearsome foe. She knelt before him, and Skyfire came up along side her.

And together, they spoke.

"What is thy bidding, my master."


	8. Episode 8: Bumblebee

Sari sat on the bed that the Decepticons had gotten for her. It wasn't quite made right, it was too big, and a little bit too soft, but overall it was satisfactory. Galvatron had welcomed her with open arms, and she was certain that it wasn't because he was the welcoming sort of person. Galvatron seemed different from Megatron, there was something about the way he hat looked at her. She knew that Megatron would have looked at her and seen a weapon first, but there was something else. This new Megatron was... scarier, if that were possible. As if he were just on the edge of rage.

She got up and looked into her closet, and was mildly surprised by the number of changes in clothes that she saw there. There were even different outfits, though they were all in the same muted grey and purple colors that Galvatron had chosen for her. The clothes were pointless anyway. She hadn't transformed to human form since she had arrived. She didn't dare. Galvatron wouldn't let anybody permanently harm her, but the other decepticons could easily claim small 'accidents'.

She had to admit, she was having a _lot_ of regrets about this. Skyfire's story wasn't holding up to terribly well now that she was in the decepticon base. _Get real, Sari,_ she reprimanded herself, _your an organic one, and an ex-autobot turncoat for another. I wouldn't be to terribly trusting of me right now either_. She turned toward the portion of the wall she had polished into a mirror and took another look at the 'modifications' Doc. Horrorscope had given her.

On top of giving her an entirely different color job, gray main and purple secondary, he had done severe changes to her armor. First, he had replaced the cloth like skirt that she had had originally with one made up of metal plates that were wrapped around her waist. It reminded her of all those movies with Roman legionaries and Greek hoplites. Next he had enhanced her torso armor, so that it covered most of it down to the top of her abdomen. She had to admit that that did 'enhance' her form a bit nicer than originally, but it made her feel just a little dirty.

The only major change to her armor after that was more her own decision. She had decided to get rid of her child like pig tales and go for a more adult braid. She had asked the Doc to change her alternate mode to something matching that. Now she had an extend-able whip there.

Her door chimed, and she went to check the monitor. She cheered when she saw Skyfire's face. If the others' reception had been unwelcoming, his was anything but. He was nothing but support and optimism. In the two weeks or so that they had been there they had grown to be close friends. It was his sincerity that had carried her through to now.

She ran out of her door and glomped her friend on the shin. The decepticon bent down and patted her back lightly while laughing. "It is good to see you to, milady." She only smiled up at him. He let her climb onto his hand and lifted her up to his shoulder. "Would you like to go do some sparing?" he asked.

"Yeah, that'd be good." Sari replied.

They walked to the combat training chambers of the old decepticon base. Durring the war it had been an out of the way and forgotten supply depot. Now it was the heart and center of the pitiful decepticon forces. Skyfire let Sari down when they had entered the empty cargo area. She took several paces away from him, then turned back.

He had converted his wings into his signature sword and shield. She brought out her new dual scimitars that had been converted from her laser ton-fas. As always, he charged first, slashing down hard as his jet feet gave him a tremendous speed boost. And as always she was nowhere near where she had been. Though, this was the first time that she had decided to use her jump jets to launch her self at the ceiling. She used her head-whip to grapple a support strut, and examined her options. In less than a second, she had her plan.

Using her jumpjets again, she boosted forward and kicked her larger opponent in the head. When he reached his shield hand up to grab her, she ran up his forehead, and dove down, slapping his at the back of his knees and ankles on the way with the blunt of her blades. When she landed, she put them away as he just turned to look at her, dumbfounded.

"You beat me... Again." he said.

"Too slow." was her only response.

Then Skywarp entered the room, crouched down and nervous looking. Sari and Skyfire watched as the cowardly decepticon walked over to them cautiously. He came up to them and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again after loosing his nerve.

"Well then, what is it." Sari snapped at him. Like most people, whatever patience she had for the comically spineless starscream clone had been worn away very quickly. Skywarp squawked in surprise, then calmed down a bit until he could talk.

"G-g-Galvatron wants to see the two of you. He said its u-urgent." he sputtered as they listened.

Sari and Skyfire looked at each other, then nodded at Skywarp, who beat a hasty retreat as he always did. _Galvatron wants to see us, huh._ _I wonder what he wants with us. Probably more info on Autobot city. I already told him what I know, there isn't anything else he can get out of me._

They walked as she thought, and soon she found herself in Galvatron's storage area cum thrown room. It was essentially the same as the first time she had seen it, and that being absolutely barren of any luxury except for the thrown itself, wich would have cost millions on earth likely regardless of size. The bot himself wasn't sitting on said thrown, but was instead standing near a large set of holo-displays, examining them all.

They walked up behind him, and both knelt. She was un-used to the formality in the decepticon ranking structure, but in the training and efficiency, she had to admit that it delivered results. Every decepticon knew who to report to, and they all knew their job and did it. In away, it was refreshing, seeing everything working right instead of scrambling around just to figure out what to do.

The decepticon leader turned to look at them. He smiled as he said, "Ah, my two newest recruits. A pleasure to see you. I hope that the past few weeks have been comfortable."

Sari hadn't seen Galvatron hardly at all since her arrival and initiation. And she frankly she didn't want to see too much of Galvatron. If there was any one word she could use to describe him, it was intimidating.

"Yes, sir." she and Skyfire responded.

"Good." His smile faded and his face become serious. "I have a mission that would be rather uniquely suited to your backgrounds, primarily your." He said indicating Sari. "I still have three agents on earth since our retreat there. Two of them have been out of contact for some time indeed, and one of them informs me that they have been captured by the autobots."

The screen behind him displayed three faces. Blackarachnia, Waspinator, and Slipstream. "I'm sending you to retrieve the agents in captivity. Blackarachnia is our foremost expert on techno-organic beings like yourself, and Waspinator is a superior warrior who also has a detailed knowledge concerning the layout and security measures of the autobots highest security prison."

"You will rendezvous with Slipstream on far side of the moon and plan your strategy. From there you will use a stealth approach to autobot city on earth. Get our agents, and leave. You are not to engage the autobots for any purpose other than decoy or defense. Make it look like your busting friends out of jail, not like you've been given orders to retrieve agents. Understood?"

"Yes, lord Galvatron." they both responded in unison.

*******

Theodore looked out onto the skyline of Autobot city and Detroit beyond that. Night was falling, and the stars were coming out. He sighed as they seemed to comfort him.

Then he sucked it in as the moon came back into view. Rather than look at it, he turned his head down. That was when he noticed Optimus walking out of the city and transforming for an evening patrol. _Poor guy, _the human-robot hybrid thought, _he blame himself for Sari's betrayal more than anyone._ Not that there wasn't any logic to it, he had to admit. Sari had protested to their actions, and they had ignored her.

Unfortunately, her actions did not cast a good light on Ted or Gary. Both were similarly techno-organic, and both were of only 5 known to exist. 3 out of 5 techno-organics joining the decepticons was not a good track record, and the autobots were suspicious of organics as it was. If it hadn't been for the fact that he and Gary had been instrumental in capturing Waspinator and Blacharachnia, they would likely have been thrown out of the Elite-Guard and made outcasts at the best.

At the worst...

_They would have been _merciful_, for suspicion of treason, and only remove our allspark fragments. Fine for Gary, death sentence for me._ The moon was getting higher and brighter now, and it was getting harder to ignore it. He turned and walked back into the building.

He was in the Autobot City hospital. Since Preceptor, Ratchet, and Wheeljack were all working on some secret project, the job of keeping Bumblebee alive had fallen on Gary. Not that the little genius wasn't up to the task. But it was stressful work even for an experience medi-bot. Ted could only imagine what it was like for a kid.

Since Gary had to stay on hand at all times, Ted had refused to leave him alone for very long, in case the little guy collapsed from exhaustion. The green human-bot was either working, eating, or sleeping, and didn't really seem to have enough time to do either of the three very often. _At least it keeps him busy, he doesn't have to think about getting betrayed._

Ted didn't know how hard it had hit the kid. Gary seemed fine, but then again, he hadn't had much time to think about anything other than his patient. And there was little understanding what the kid was thinking anyways. His mind always focused on the task at hand, and worked out any possible solution it could. That was just the way he was, there always had to be a solution. But what solution could he come up with for being betrayed.

_If he's lucky, he isn't feeling as bad as I am._ Ted thought, then quickly dismissed it. It wasn't good to wallow in your own grief. It distracted one from the task at hand. And right now, that was checking in on Gary.

He peaked into the room to make sure the kid was alright. "Yo, Gary, you good?"

"Hrm..." The little bot didn't even look up from the monitor that showed Bumblebee's vitals.

"That a yes or a no?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

"Human-bot did not ask if Waspinator was alright, Waspinator almost think human-bot not like him." the other room mate quipped. Since the brig was still under construction, and would be for some time, Their prisoners were being held in the Contaminant Containment Chamber, or CCC. F_itting that they should be kept in there like the filth that they are_, he thought.

"Its not that I don't like you Waspbut, its just that I wouldn't really care if you were to die."

The Giant monstrosity went into a fury, beating at the force field. They had found out quick that stasis-cuffs didn't work on techno-organics, and that meant that Waspinator and Blacharachnia were still a threat, even if they were behind a forcefield. Not to mention the fact that you would have to literally 'de-fang' both of them in order to remove their weapons.

Waspinator's cell mate didn't say anything. Ted thought she was embarrassed from having been captured. He was grateful for her silence, she hadn't stopped ranting about the superiority of techno-organics when they had been fighting. It seems that her time with Waspinator had changed her mind about her condition somewhat. They had found her trying to rebuild her old lab. Ted figured they'd have to go back and tear it apart soon.

He ignored Waspinator and walked up to the table that Bumblebee lay on. The yellow bot had taken the worst beating anyone had ever seen, save maybe Ratchet. The plating on his entire left side was torn off, and his chassis was plainly visible. It was like metal bones were sticking through the worst open woulds in the world. All there really was to indicate that the bot wasn't an empty shell was the fact that he hadn't gone the fittingly dead gray that cybertronians seemed to go when they died.

"You didn't need this, man. But at least you don't have to face what Sari did." he said solemnly to the silent autobot.

Alarms suddenly began to go off in the building, and Ted transformed, opening his comm channel. "Thruster here, whats the going on Blaster."

"Picking up to decepticon signals, looks like Starscream clones. Their vector doesn't look like an attack run, so I'm assuming its a rescue.-" there was an explosion, then what sounded like a volley of return fire- "And not a very good one at that. They don't know what their doing. I'm betting 'con stragglers, nothing we can't handle, but they'll be tough to take down."

Ted nodded, then remembered that Blaster couldn't see him. He still hadn't quite gotten used to how clear internal comms were. "Right, I'll head out to help, you guys might want a flier. I'll need some fire support, but don't take anybody away from any important tasks. Lets just drive them away."

Gary started to get up, but Ted gestured for him to sit down. "You stay here, Gary. Keep an eye on our prisoners and, more importantly, Bumblebee. The rest of us will handle the 'scream clones." Ted ran off, leaving Gary standing there.

*******

Sari snuck into the corridor as quietly as she could. One of her new upgrades was a visual stealth package, but it wouldn't stand up to much more than a passing glance, and she had to manage the sound portion of the stealth on her own. She stopped dead as thruster blasted past her, but when he didn't turn around, she kept on going.

She didn't look forward to a rematch with him again. If she knew him, he had been doing some kind of training or other since she had handed him his ass in their last meeting. _At least fighting him would be easier than running into Bumblebee, _she thought as she rounded the next turn and went into the main infirmary room.

She looked across the room to where Waspinator and Blacharachnia were being held. They weren't in stasis cuffs, so the escape would be easy the moment she turned off the field. _The only problem is getting them out without them hurting Gearbox,_ she thought, _wait, what's he still doing here._ She looked more closely at him, and then at what he was working on.

"oh no."

Bumblebee lay on the table torn to shreds. It took her a moment to realize that he was still alive, but it seemed a hollow thought. _Oh, god. What have I done. What have I done. _She walked up to the bedside slowely, as if in a trance. Part of her was telling her that she had nothing to do with what happened to Bumblebee, but the rest of her violently told that part to shut the hell up.

"Hey, Sari." Gearbox said behind her, and she realized that she must have dropped her stealth. She spun quickly, her scimitars in a defensive position.

"I'm not gonna fight you, I know you could slag me in you sleep. Actually I want your help, and I know you'll help me with this." He said passively. He was slouched somewhat, as if he was exhausted.

_No small wonder,_ she said looking at the bags under his eyes. _He must have been keeping Bumblebee alive this whole time._ She put her weapons away, then transformed into her normal self. "Its Bumblebee isn't it."

He nodded, and she grunted her consent. She turned around and lied a hand on the yellow bots chest plate. "Oh man, where do I start."

"Just tell me what isn't a hopeless case."

She stood there for a moment with her eyes closed. "Well, his processors' fine, but it's not getting much power, most of the circuits going to it are fried. His spark is actually relatively undamaged as well, it just can't get power anywhere. His memory core is ok, but not all there. I think he'll be missing some of his earlier memories." She took her hand off the autobot and opened her eyes, swooning just a bit. "I've never done that to a sapient machine before. Its weird."

"How strong do you think he is." Gearbox asked her.

"What?" Sari responded in puzzlement. That wasn't a question one normally asked about their patient. "Well, his sparks still strong, it hasn't drained too much yet. Other than that though he can't really do anything. It'll take weeks of repair before he's even able to speak. If he were human he'd be dead."

Gearbox looked at her, then clarified, "Do you think he is strong enough for a controlled space-bridge malfunction?"

Sari just looked at him uncomprehendingly, but Blacharachnia began to laugh. "You clever little insect. You want to do to him what I did to Wasp, don't you?"

"That is the most effective means of restoring Bumblebee, and it would also serve as a significant upgrade."

_But I just told him everything that was wrong. Between him and Ratchet, they'd have Bumblebee up on his feet in a month or two, not that I'm complaining. Your up to something, Gearhead. _Then it hit her, _but I'm here now, and if anyone can convince me that I made the wrong decision, it's BB._

_I hate when someone else is right about me. And I hate that I'm going to help him._

Gearbox had walked up to the forcefield. "If I let you and Waspinator go, will you promise not to harm anyone, and take Bumblebee with you so that you can restore him."

Blacharachnia smirked. "What guarantee do you have that I'll do what you ask."

"Her." he said pointing at Sari.

Sari nodded and transformed.

"Allright then, I'll do it. But you stay here little man." the decepticon fembot responded.

"Agreed."

Gearbox disabled the field, and stepped back as Blacharachnia and Waspinator walked through.

As they walked out, Sari turned back to Gearbox. "Thank you for not hating me."

"You'll be back with us soon. I just hope its in one piece."

*******

The Decepticons had fallen back from their attack, and now were hanging out near the edges of Detroit.

_Clever bastards_, Ted thought, _they know we don't dare cause anymore property damage than we can help. They can just wait it out._ But something was buggin him. _They can't get to their friends tho..._

Then it hit him. He spun as fast as he could and jetted off back to autobot city.

*******

Sari, Waspinator, Blacharachnia, and Bumblebee almost out of the city when a red slash cut through the sky and slammed into the ground in front of them. Thruster stepped forward and brought his weapons up.

"What, treason isn't enough. Now you have to resort to kidnapping." He said.

"We're going to help him. We can fix him."

"I don't think he'd want you help."

Sari sighed, then turned to Blacharachnia and Waspinator, "You two go on ahead and fix him up. I'll take care of this."

The others walked off, Thruster didn't even glance at them. "This is entirely about me, isn't it?"

"Your damn right it is. You brought me into this group of alien robots, enlisted me in the interstellar war, and then you went and turned sides. You left me and Gary right here without any warning, no explanation. You _betrayed_ us."

"I have my reasons. If you'll just listen and let me explain-"

"No!" Thruster shouted. He shot forward before she could react and drove her into the ground. He was ready to fight her now, and made certain to foul up her attacks so she couldn't block up his energy flow. He was also using his flight to his advantage a lot more.

She jabbed at his arm, connecting just a centimeter off aim. Before she could real back in, though, he put his hand on her chest and blasted with a full burn. Sari went flying into the air and smashed against a building. Before she fell, though, he flew in and caught her, lifting her high until he dropped her.

_Oh shi-_

He kicked at her and fired up both of his leg engines with everything he had. The blast sent her rocketing into the side of a building and rubble crumbled around her. She just barely managed to get her top half free when he landed in front of her.

"I trusted you. I looked up to you as a leader. I would have _given my life for you._ I-" He turned away.

Thruster just stood there for several moments and Sari didn't know what he was going to do next. It began to infuriate her that he was just standing there, his back to her. "You _what?_"

"Get out of here." he replied quietly, and it was then that Sari noticed that he had removed his mask and was crying. She worked her way out of the rubble and stood up. She bounced between leaving and going toward him. Her mind was made up when he turned on her and brought his weapons up.

"**GET OUT OF HERE."**

She activated her blades and sped off, confusion filling her mind.

*******

Sari arrived at Blacharachnia's lab minutes later. Slipstream and Skyfire were already there, and Blacharachnia had already strapped Bumblebee into her machines. She turned and greeted Sari. "Your just in time to see the process of you friends evolution to a higher level."

"Just fix him." Sari said, not wanting anything else at that point. Just hoping to see her friend alive and well again.

"I'll do one better." Blacharachnia said as she placed the organic specimen in its chamber. When that was done, she took a few steps back and activated the machines. Electric blue light filled the room as the organic specimen disappeared and transwarp energy surrounded Bumblebee. Sari found herself involuntarily reeling away from the surreal scene as her friend changed shape and form right before her eyes.

She was only mildly aware of it when she felt something constrict around her, but she snapped to attention when she was lifted into the air. The grip became tighter, but before she could shout out, a smooth female voice cooed into her ear. "If you scream, you friend dies."

_Slipstream, you hoar,_ she thought as she noticed the Starscream clone's cannon pointed out at her vulnerable friend.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this, you bitch." And Slipstream began to squeeze.

Sari's breath left her quickly, and she was soon at the point where she couldn't scream if she wanted to. Then her shoulders began to ache as her arms were crushed. The world started to spin, and her ribs burned from being bent almost as much as her lungs burned for oxygen. Her vision began to fade.

_Oh, God. This is it._

Distantly she heard a scream, and her vision snapped back as air rushed into her lungs. She was still in Slipstream's grasp, but now the bitch was minus one arm.

"Release Sari," Skyfire said, "Now, Wench."

For whatever reason, Blacharachnia and Waspinator stood beside the valiant Starscream clone, ready to fight for her. Bumblebee was out of the chair, too, and in a fighting position, glistening new body ready for battle. Sari couldn't quite focus on him though, since she was still being squeezed somewhat. Instead, she tried to focus on Slipstream's face, which bore a grimace of pain as the decepticon's eyes searched around the room. They focused for a moment on something down and below Sari's field of vision, but passed it quickly.

"Let Sari-bot go." Waspinator.

"Alright," Slipstream said to smoothly, then she lightly tossed Sari to the side. Sari fell facing up, and she panicked for a moment as the air rushed around her.

Then something punched her in the back, _hard_. She tried to lift her head to look around, but her spine screamed at her in pain. Laser fire flashed through the air above her, and Slipstream's broken husk collapsed just a few feat away.

Everything began to spin, and the world started to grow fuzzy. Sounds became distant, all she could hear was the beating of her own heart. _Funny,_ she thought awkwardly, _I can still hear my heartbeat when I don't have a human heart, heh._

Then the world faded into black.

********

_**Author's Note**_

_**More character development for the other and Original characters this time arround, as well as for Sari. Also, 'Sari' for the extra time for this update, but I think you will think its worth it.**_

_**On another note, I took inspiration for my changing of Bumblebee from Strixmoonwing's Killerbee pics. I'ld link you to them, but I can't.  
**_


	9. Episode 9: Awakening

_Come back for round two, eh?_ Ted thought as he ran out to the edge of Autobot City. Bringing his up his mask, he looked out over the lake. He spotted them, three figures, closing fast. He recognized the one of them as the Starscream clone, and another one as Waspinator, though it looked like he was carrying something or someone. The other one was a mystery to him.

It looked like Waspinator, but the coloration was wonky in this lighting, and it seemed much too small. It too looked like it was carrying something, but that object was very small, and he had no idea what it was.

By the time Kup and Springer arrived, the deceptions were close enough for him to get a better look. It seemed that Waspinator was carrying Blacharachnia. _Then the other one must be carrying. _He used zoomed in with his optics on the other bug-bot's payload. _Oh no..._

"Hold, fire. Nobody attack, their not here for a fight!" He shouted as they drew nearer.

"What, why?" Springer asked, looking incredulously at the small human-bot.

"Because not even decepticons bring their wounded onto a battle field." Kup answered for him, pointing to the unknown bot, or more specifically, the thing it was carrying.

Held by the three legs was Sari Sumdac, her arms and legs hanging completely limp from her body, her head hanging back, like a rag-doll. The innocence of that sentiment was ruined, however, by the gaping hole in her abdomen, just below her chest.

Ted ran forward as the bot carrying her set her down. Everything else faded away into the background. He knelt down beside Sari, lifting her head off the ground with his hand. He turned around, and shouted.

"Somebody get Gearbox, Ratchet! ANYBODY!"

********

All of the original earth autobots were gathered around Sari's bed. Gearbox had done his best too patch up the external damage, and he and Ratchet had spent hours trying to stabilize the girl. They had had some success, but even so, things looked grim. The same thought went through everyone's head as the looked down on her. They wouldn't leave her alone when she died.

The strange bot that had looked like Waspinator had revealed itself to be Bumblebee, given a new form. It was now the closest to Sari, sitting next to the bed and hanging over her as if to protect her from any more harm.

Optimus could barely stand the sight of it. It hurt him too much. He had tried to be a good leader. Tried to provide an example of leadership and goodness to his bots. An example of what an autobot should be.

But he had failed. He had failed because, in the end, he hadn't been strong enough to destroy his enemy. He had failed because that enemy had escaped, taking with him one of his most trusted friends, an action made easier because of his own stubborn idiocy and refusal to listen. And now he had failed because that friend lay on their death bed.

He left the room unsteadily, and soon found his way through the building to one of its balconies. He looked out over the unfinished city. "How can I protect the future of the autobots if I can't even protect the ones that I care about."

"You worry too much, blue bot." He heard someone say behind him. Optimus turned quickly, and saw Blacharachnia standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. "Sometimes things happen that are beyond your control, and there's nothing you can do to stop them. Or if you do, you can only make it worse."

The autobot Prime was irritated at finding himself, and his thoughts, no longer alone. But he let that pass. "But I could have avoided this. If I hadn't have been such a stubborn glitch and listened to her. She wouldn't have had any reason to doubt who was in the right, and wouldn't have gotten into this mess." His frustration boiled up, "Argh, I'm such a stupid malfunction."

The fembot walked up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, I'm not going to argue with you. In fact, I think you interpretation is a little bit conservative," He cast a mild glare at her, "But that's beside the point. You can't protect everyone, and you can't know everything. As the wise Primus tells us, 'All formulas are free of error in hindsight.'"

Optimus simply glared out across the city, trying his hardest to ignore the truth in her words. Blacharachnia only sighed and hugged him. "Hey, I know its not close to an even exchange, but you've got me back. And between me, that mechanical prodigy, the greatest medibot on or off Cybertron, and the two greatest minds in cybertronion mechanical theory on the job, she'll get better."

"She'll get better." He repeated, now returning the embrace. _She'll get better._

********

The room was almost completely dark when Ted stepped in. The only light came from the soft glow of the monitoring equipment. He was completely alone. _Well, almost alone._ He thought, looking over to the new Bumblebee asleep and leaning against an equally snoring Waspinator.

He walked up to the bed, and looked down at the girl. She was still entirely in robot mode, nobody had even dared trying to force a transformation. Even her mask was still on. _She shouldn't be like this, I shouldn't have let her go_. He thought, anger at himself driving him to try and pull at his hair.

He looked at her face, and became angered by the simple mask there. _We should at least be able to see her face. This shouldn't be our last memory of her_. He started to remember his time with her then. He had only known her for a few months, basically the school year, but her influence on that time was overwhelming. She had become an important part of his life, and slowly had become the center of his attention.

_Damn, it. Its bad enough that your my friend and this happened to you. But your more than just that to me._

"I love you." he said, leaning down and kissing her on the mouth plate. _There, now make your miraculous recovery like the Mary Sue you are, just in time for me to act all embarrassed_. Sari just lay there, showing no sign of stirring. He looked up hopefully at the monitors, but they showed nothing else but the slow and steady decline of her vitals.

_Fucking damn it, don't do this, Sari. Snap out of it and come back to us. Your important to all of us, you can't die, its against the rules._ His mind carried him backwards through his memories of her. Their battle just a few hours ago, the earlier one before that. The picnics they would have on the hill looking over Autobot City, their races against each other and their practical jokes and games with Ted and bumblebee. He remembered seeing Cybertron, and how the both of them had simply been stunned by the glory of the autobot's council building.

Eventually, he reached their first encounter with each other, and the realization that they were not so different. Scaring the piss out of that punk had been fun, and the walk to her home had sown the seeds of his attraction to her, not at all helped by the way she had layn her hands on his chest when she had revealed his all spar...

Realization hit him like a hammer to the skull. He brought his hand to his chest, just above the chamber that held the All-spark fragment that preserved his life. It hovered there a moment in hesitation. _Hold on, can I do this. Should I do this? They might find another way to help her, she might recover on her own._ He thought, fear gripping him.

_But what if she doesn't. What if she dies right now, and you could have saved her. You _can _save her. And you _know_ that you should. Do it, do it now before its too late._

He willed the chamber open, bathing the room in the soft blue light of his heart. He reached his other hand out and placed it on Sari's chest, opening her own spark chamber. He bent down low, his face just above hers, his hand reaching around his All-spark fragment. Behind him, he could hear Bumblebee and Waspinator stirring.

He kissed her again. He pulled the shard out and laid it in her spark chamber.

_Wake up now, my sleeping beauty._

*******

Power surged through Sari, literally filling her with life. It was unlike anything she had felt before, greater even than her upgrade.

Drearily, she opened her eyes...

"t-ted. Ted! TED!!!"

*******

Alarm claxons sounded all throughout the security facility. Cliffjumper Prime ran towards the door. Already, the outside outposts had gone quiet. Whoever was behind the attack had been fast.

He commanded his autobots to take positions all around the main door, weapons at the ready. If anybody was going to get in here, they were going to pay for every inch in coolant, energon, and lives. He was going to make certain of it.

"Cliffjumper Prime." The enemy is just out the door, they've stopped there." His lookout said.

The autobot nodded, and brought his ridiculously over-sized Gatling-laser out of subspace. "Don't let anything through, Autobots. GIVE THEM NOTHING, BUT TAKE FROM THEM_ EVERYTHING_!!!!"

Then, silence, broken only by the throbbing of the alarm. After a few moments, it chaffed on Cliffjumper's nerves. The bots began to whisper amongst themselves in confusion. "Lookout, The enemy is in front of the door, yes?"

"Yes, sir. He's just, standing there."

"He?"

"Yes sir, only one."

_What, who would be stupid enough to._ Just then, he heard a resonating _th-WUMP._

_OHSLA-_

The door exploded and he was thrown back. Bits and pieces of cybertronion flew everywhere. He was dimly aware of the fact that both his legs and an arm had been completely broken off. He lifted his head, ready to glare in defiance as his attacker finished him.

He was struck dumb as he saw the figure come forward. _It... it can't be._

The massive decepticon looked down at him, his purple eyes burning menacingly.

"Don't feel bad about your injured defiance. I will spare you this time." The decepticon said, leaning down towards the autobot leader. "Besides, I have a message for your leaders. Tell them that _Galvatron_ has arrived."


End file.
